


Red Flowers

by Sazuka57



Category: Food Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Flowers, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 01:26:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17777954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sazuka57/pseuds/Sazuka57
Summary: The last thing Red Wine expected to find was a flower.





	Red Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> For the SteakWine Valentine's exchange.

The last thing Red Wine expected to find in his bedroll was a flower. 

It was a small, red thing, its stem bent in the middle, as if picked hurriedly from the field. And indeed, when Red Wine scanned their surroundings, he saw a patch of the same flower in the distance. He frowned and tossed the little thing behind him then went back to packing his things. It was an odd thing to find and nagged at him for a few more minutes, but then Steak came into his peripheral nagged at him with brash words. The flower was quickly forgotten in favor of a rebuttal, which quickly led to a fight between the two of them. 

Red Wine didn’t remember the red flower until the next morning, when he went to pack his bedroll. Another red flower rested atop of it once more, which caught the food soul by surprise. He picked it up, and upon closer inspection, found it to be a different flower than the day before. Just like the day before, however, he tossed it over his shoulder with a slight annoyance. He looked at his two traveling companions and wondered which of them would leave flowers on his bedroll. Gingerbread didn’t seem the type, even if she did like to spend time around flowers every now and then. Steak… 

Red Wine had long concluded that Steak was too much of a brute to ever properly express affection, let alone court or gift someone. It couldn’t possibly be him. 

Somehow, that thought disappointed him more than it should have. He ignored the twinge of disappointment in his heart, however, and set his sight on his other companion.

“Gingerbread.” He called to her and waited for her to turn around before he continued. “Stop putting these things in my bedroll. This doesn’t suit either of us.”

“What’re you talking about?” Gingerbread asked in confusion. He held the flower up for her and she frowned. “What are you doing picking flowers? We gotta get a move on!”

“You’re the one who keeps leaving them in my bedroll,” he snapped, “so stop it.”

“I’m not leaving them in your bedroll!”

“Then who is?”

“I dunno! Ask Steak!”

“As if that brute would know anything about flowers!!”

Gingerbread rolled her eyes and went back to her work. Red Wine scoffed at her manners and tossed the flower away and went back to his packing. He finished quickly and picked a fight with Steak to help calm his nerves. The other food soul was especially ornery that morning, which made their fight all the more intense and satisfying, though Red Wine came out of it with extra bruises than usual. It certainly took his mind off the flowers, however, and he didn’t worry about them until the morning after. It mildly surprised him to find his bedroll empty when he went to pack it, though he also felt relieved. One less thing to worry about, he supposed, and merrily went about his work. 

Since then, he didn’t think of the flowers for a while, until they made it to their destination and checked into an inn. The town guard needed help with fallen angels, to which the trio readily offered their assistance. By the time the sun had gone below the horizon, word had travelled around the town of their aid, and the innkeeper upgraded their stay to give each of them their own room. Red Wine loved the small extravagance and enjoyed the time away from Steak and his multitude of annoyances. He had a wonderful night and slept contently and woke bright and early for his patrol the next morning. He and Gingerbread made a thorough round around the town’s outer perimeter and cleaned up any fallen angels in their way. Steak had taken to coordinating with the head of the town guard to get to the source of the problem, and the three of them were set to investigate beyond the town’s boundaries when they had enough information.

For the time being, however, Red Wine returned to his room to rest, though he was met with an unexpected surprise when he got there. A single rose, deep red in color and pristine, lay on top of his pillow. He picked it up and admired it with a smile that quickly turned into a frown. Who had put the rose on his bed? He put the rose back on his bed and left his room to find Gingerbread. A part of him didn’t really think she was the one leaving him flowers, but the alternative…

… It hurt too much to think of the alternative.

He found her in the tavern, with a tankard of ale in front of her and humans around her. Across of her sat a burly man, whose arms were easily twice the size of her own, locked with her in an arm wrestling competition. His arm shook with effort, and the grimace on his face intensified with every inch Gingerbread forced away from him. Red Wine watched impatiently while the crowd roared and shouted at both of the players, until they erupted in a loud cheer at Gingerbread’s victory. It took a few moments for them to move away from her, and only then did he approach. 

“Gingerbread,” he greeted.

“Oh hey, Red.” She turned in her seat to face him. “What’s up?”

“Why are you putting flowers in my bed again?”

“What?” She frowned at him in incredulity. “I’m not leaving flowers in your bed. Or anywhere! Not for anyone and  _ definitely  _ not for you!”

Red Wine took slight offense to that, but he had a bigger issue to deal with than Gingerbread’s lack of affection for him. “Then who is leaving these on my bed? It’s not you, and it’s definitely not Steak--”

“--How do you know it’s not him?” She cut him off. “Did you ask?”

“No,” he scoffed, “there’s no need to. That brute--”

“--might surprise you.” Deciding that the conversation was over, Gingerbread turned back to the group of humans and yelled. “Alright, who’s next!!”

Red Wine frowned at her and walked back to his room. The rose still lay on his bed, beautiful and pristine, and he had no idea who put it there…

No, that was a lie. He had an idea. He simply didn’t like the idea. Because if it were true…

Gritting his teeth, he snatched the rose from its resting place and marched to Steak’s room. His knocks were loud and sharp, precisely three, and he didn’t wait for permission before entering. 

“Could you at least wait until I say you can come in?” Steak sounded annoyed from his place by the desk. His weapon and armor were laid atop it, and the food soul sat on the desk chair while he cleaned them. Even though he couldn’t see his face, Red Wine could still see the set of his shoulders. Steak looked tense, on edge, maybe even frazzled, and for a moment, he wondered why.

“You’re no fair maiden to deserve that treatment,” Red Wine scoffed. He held up the rose to Steak’s back and accused. “Are you the one leaving flowers in my beddings?”

There was a long stretch of quiet, to the point where Red Wine thought he had been ignored. Steak hadn’t paused cleaning his equipment, didn’t even stutter at the question, which only cemented Red Wine’s belief. This couldn’t stand, of course, and just as he opened his mouth to ask again, Steak spoke up.

“Yes.” 

“Why?” The simple reply had set the well-dressed food soul on edge. It sounded more loaded than it should have been. He didn’t like that one bit.

“Why do you think?”

The silence after that was prolonged, the heaviness of the atmosphere palpable. Red Wine knew why someone would leave another flowers--romantic gestures were not outside of his grasp. But this was Steak.  _ Steak.  _ He shouldn’t know how to express affection. He was a brute. A barbarian. He never courted anyone, never showed inclination towards anyone. This was  _ Steak. _

But this…

“Why red?” Red Wine asked, voice barely above a whisper, as if unable to lift the heaviness that surrounded them.

“The color matched your eyes.” 

A simple, honest reply. Always simple and honest with this food soul. It drove Red Wine crazy, and so he accused. “Your eyes and hair are red.”

“Not that shade of red.” A pause. “And I wasn’t thinking about that when I bought the rose. I was thinking about you.”

Red Wine’s heart fluttered. He couldn’t deny the blush that rose to his cheeks, though he hated it. This was Steak. A rough, tactless idiot. He shouldn’t be leaving flowers in his bedding. He shouldn’t be thinking in shades of red to match his eyes. He should be out training or patrolling or--or doing what he was doing right now, cleaning his armor. They should be arguing or fighting right now, not… not this. 

This… just shouldn’t have been possible. Red Wine had occasionally mused about something romantic with Steak, but it he believed it to be unrequited pining. Never had he seen an inkling of anything beside begrudging respect and hatred from the other food soul. This…

“...Of course you’d think like this,” he smiled wryly at Steak’s back. “Leave a few flowers on my bed and I would be swept away by your charm. What a boorish, unsophisticated idea. Completely thoughtless.”

Steak stiffened and Red Wine thought he’d finally get the confrontation he came into the room for. After a moment, however, the other food soul’s shoulders slumped and he heard him sigh in what sounded too much like defeat. 

“Just...leave it on the drawer chest beside you.” Did his voice just waver? “I won’t bother you with flowers anymore.”

Red Wine’s stomach flipped and his breath caught in his throat. This...wasn’t what he expected. Steak was usually predictable, and dependable in his predictability. This… This wasn’t right. 

It wasn’t right, but… This was Steak… And he was…

… There was no one really like him in all of Tierra. 

Red Wine hesitated a moment before he approached the other food soul. He stopped right behind him, then wrapped his arms around his shoulders so that his hands--and the rose--rested in the middle of Steak’s chest. He felt the other food soul tense in his arms and tensed as well.

“I didn’t say it didn’t work.” He pressed his cheek against Steak’s hair. “Nor did I say I didn’t like it.”

A strained moment passed before Steak relaxed in his arms. The food soul moved a hand to gently--too gently; so unlike him--hold Red Wine’s empty one. He cleared his throat then spoke in a tone much too shy for Red Wine to ever dream of hearing from him.

“After our work with the village is over, would you like to go on a date?”

“Only if you make it a good one.” 

“Of course I will.”

“So confident. How cocky.” He squeezed the other food soul gently. “But yes, I look forward to it.”

“Good. Now, if you don’t mind, I have weapons and armor that need attending to.”

“Yes, yes. I’m leaving.” Red Wine lingered in the embrace a moment longer before he pulled away. He left the room and shut the door gently behind him, a small smile on his face. He paused long enough to tuck the rose in his pocket then continued to his room. They still had a few more days worth of work to do, but he didn’t mind. It would give him a few days to prepare for his date. He needed to sweep Steak off his feet as well, and if he could get the other food soul to fall in love with him, well… that would be just grand.


End file.
